Solid catalytic materials, such as zeolite aluminosilicates, are at the heart of petroleum and natural gas conversion. Some solid catalytically active materials are now known to be dynamic, with metal ions that move throughout the porous solid structures. While this mobility has important influences on the catalytic activity of the zeolite, and therefore the productivity of the industrial process, understanding, quantifying, and tracking this mobility is exceptionally challenging. In this emerging paradigm of dynamic catalytic materials, signals must be identified to track the mobile components and new tools developed to probe their behaviors and contributions to reactivity.

This Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) project will investigate the dynamic behavior of technologically-important metal cations such as gallium and copper, dispersed in porous oxide materials. Specifically, the project will explore the spatial extent and timescale for ion mobility, the role of adsorption (determined by the size of the ion and its oxidation state, as well as the nature of the oxide support), the effect of temperature, pressure, protons, and the availability of ligands.